We all use mind-talk with our cats. If you don’t believe it, consider this: How often do you just think about getting up and fixing your cat’s supper or offering a treat and all of a sudden your cat becomes alert. She might look at you from across the room—anticipation in her eyes. Or she runs from another room and sits in front of you staring or rubs against your legs. It’s possible that she heard your thought.
They say that cats read mind pictures. I have to say
that I’ve experienced this many times over the years—most succinctly when I managed to talk a very uncooperative cat out from under a deep corner table and into a cat carrier—yes, using only mind-pictures.
I wonder sometimes if my cats use mind-talk with me.
The more we observe our cats the more we can see their wild side. Right? Well, this isn’t too unusual when you consider that your Fluffy or Tigger shares 95.6 percent of their DNA with the tiger.
African serval
Bengal – Domestic cat and wild Asian leopard cat
In my Klepto Cat Mystery books Rags (the cat) often solves a crime or unravels a mystery. He’s been an eye-witness, he’s been part of a lineup, he has pawed a culprit, and he has discovered important evidence. But the essence of my stories aren’t necessarily all fun and games and entertainment. Animals/pets are being used more and more often to prove or disprove someone’s guilt. With the inclusion of fur, claws, and even poop in the evidence room, some trials are catapulted in unexpected directions. Here are a few examples:
crimes. In the UK, Tinker-cat’s fur helped convict his owner of murdering his neighbor. Now that’s mutiny if I’ve ever heard it.
First let me announce that Meowing in the Moonlight, Book 47 of the Klepto Cat Mystery series is now available in BOTH print and Kindle at Amazon.com.
stockpile names to use should the right cat (or dog or hamster) come along? Do you name a kitten or cat based on the situation, place, or circumstances in which you found him—Dumpster, Volkswagen (Lily was born in a Volkswagen), Wally (a friend adopted a kitten found inside a wall of an 
abandoned house)? Some of us wait to meet the new cat and spend hours or days trying to come up with the perfect name. This might be based on her personality, favorite activity, a particular marking on her fur, or the way she or he looks (Hairy, Groucho,
Princess Munchkin, Owl-liike…)
What are some of the most popular names for cats in 2020? I just did some research. Interestingly, Oliver is the top name for male cats this year and Bella is the favorite for females. Other popular names for males are, Simba, Max, Smokey and for females: Lucy, Lily, Sophie.
The print version of Book 47, Meowing in the Moonlight, is ready for you to read and to order for holiday giving. This is the seventh Klepto Cat Mystery to be published in 2020. (You’re welcome.)
Here’s something I don’t do very often–if ever in this blog: talk about some of my other books. I have 89 in all. Yes, eighty-nine published books. Some of you know that I started my writing career in the early 1970s, writing articles for magazines—all sorts of articles for many varieties of magazines—back when print magazines were popular. I’ve been writing and publishing books since 1978. Some of them were published by traditional publishers, many of them were published through my own publishing company, Matilija Press, and some were commissioned books that I wrote for individuals and businesses.
books on the business aspect of writing–publishing, book promotion, writing a book proposal. And for a good many years I traveled all over the US speaking at writers groups and writers conferences on publishing and book promotion.
I also have books on some unusual and interesting topics—Hints for the Backyard Rider was my first book. Then I spent five years researching and writing a 300+ page comprehensive history of the Ojai Valley and it’s pioneers–The Ojai Valley, An Illustrated History. I revised and republished this book in 1999. In recent years, the Ojai Valley Museum took it over and published it. I also wrote two books featuring the burials in the Nordhoff Cemetery. Yeah, unusual, huh? And I wrote Catscapades, True Cat Tales.
of isolation is, Creative Grandparenting Across the Miles. This could make a great gift or read for those grandparents who are unable right now to travel and visit their grandchildren. Another interesting book I wrote is The Mainland Luau, How to Capture the Flavor of Hawaiian in Your Own Backyard. This book, which features several methods of roasting a whole pig has sold quite well in gifts shops in Hawaii.
This is day 75 with Olivia. This is the picture that pulled at my heart and caused me to say “YES! We want her.”
Sophie, was stressing over Lily’s loss and I so wanted to fill the space in our home and my heart with another kitten soul and energy (oh that energy!) It was a long and difficult process to adopt partly because of COVID. I won’t go into that here. Just let me say that when I realized that the cats I was choosing from the photos online (no visits to shelters during COVID), were all dilute tabbies like Lily, I knew it was too soon to adopt.
siblings showed signs of ringworm and she had to be treated along with them for another three weeks. I was awfully disappointed, but they say all things happen for a reason and I now believe that the massage baths she got every few days as part of her treatment helped to make Olivia the love-bug that she is.
We’ve had her now, as I said, for 75 days and do we ever love her. She’s a pretty typical calico—with that impish tendency to get into trouble. But we’ve also learned that, despite the fact that she has a strong mind of her own, she is teachable, she wants to please (sometimes), and she has been known to teach us a thing or two these past ten weeks or so.
There’s more news about cats these days than at any other time in history. You find stories about cats in newspapers and on newsfeeds. There are many blogs featuring cats, and videos galore, not to mention books–both fiction and nonfiction. I enjoy seeing what the Huffington Post posts about cats. Here’s there post from last week. It includes some of the funniest tweets about cats and dogs. I enjoyed it, I’m sure you will too.
Neighbor Laura texted me one day last week asking to borrow one of our cat carriers. Laura and Russ are dog people. They lost two dogs this year—one just died in front of them without warning. Damn 2020! So much loss and I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but a lot of pets have died this year—many of them unexpectedly. I’ve heard of or know of probably three or four dozen of them myself. So Russ and Laura had one beloved dog left and they have since adopted a sweet half-grown puppy that is working out wonderfully for them.
see him. He was wary, but he’d even eat and drink in front of her. She thought that, if she could get him to go into a carrier, she’d take him to the Humane Society shelter.
Do we ever tire of seeing pictures of cats and reading stories and quotes about them? I don’t. Here are a couple of quotes I stumbled upon these past months:
gentle, and discriminating friends, who give us just enough of their regard and complaisance to make us hunger for more.” – Agnes Repplier
